The Magnet 085: More Bizarre Mysteries
Bewildering experiences with unexplainable phenomena — from glowing neon signs and midnight coffee brews to mysterious phone calls in the dead of night.
Last issue, I wrote about how a power cord somehow got unplugged from inside a locked room. I asked Magnet readers to share their own unsolved mysteries in the comments. One of the readers was my own dad, who said:
"We have a neon sign that’s been unplugged for three years. One time, around 3 am, my wife [my mom — Mark] was awakened by a red glow she saw coming in our bedroom door. She got up to investigate and sure enough, the neon sign was plugged in and happily glowing. Ghost??"
And my friend, Christina Ward, editor of Feral House books, had a baffling story about a seemingly sentient Mr. Coffee machine:
I was around 14 years old and spending the summer — as usual — with my paternal grandmother on her primitive and rural Jackson County, Wisconsin farm. (Weirdos amongst you will recognize that as "Wisconsin Death Trips" country...and yes, my people.) By primitive, I mean no phone (we used a CB to talk to area farms), electricity, propane heat, running water w/an electric pump, and indoor plumbing was installed in 1974 after Grampa died.
My family's blood happens to be about 20% coffee, so when Gramma got a Mr. Coffee in the late 70s it was a legit magic machine. That summer, randomly, a few times a week, Mr Coffee made himself a midnight pot of coffee! We could not figure out what was happening. No, we didn't "preload" the machine before retiring for the night. After the first two incidents, together we made sure the grounds were emptied from the thing and that there was no water in the cistern. Some days nothing. Other nights, midnight coffee! And then it stopped.
It was just she and I at the house. No, the doors weren't locked...it wasn't the custom of the area or the times. The closest neighbors were a half mile down the road. I am a skeptic, rational person and to this day, I cannot explain nor make sense of Mr Coffee's midnight shenanigans!
(BTW, check out Christina’s incredible new book, How Cults, Communes, and Religious Movements Influenced What We Eat.)
Another friend, Jennifer, a publicist, shared a story about a haunted smartphone:
Years ago, I was sleeping when the land line (remember those?) rang next to my bed in the middle of the night. I ignored it, tried to go back to sleep, but then checked the caller ID. My cell phone had called the landline exactly 4 minutes before. Still half asleep, I thought I must have left my cell phone someplace and whoever found it was trying to call me. But no... Because I ultimately found my cell phone on the other side of the room, plugged in & turned off. How did it just call me on my land line? hmmmm.
It’s interesting that all three of these stories, as well as my story from last week, are about electrical appliances.
Another odd experience I once had incidentally involves electricity, in the form of a telephone:
